Different ways to visualize data

 

When it is time to present your data to your audience, you don’t just want to tell them about your findings and what they mean, you want to show them. Data visualization helps us organize data and turn it into information that is clear and easy for our audience to digest. In this reading, we will go over a variety of charts and graphs you can use to visually represent data. 

Visualizing your data 

Before translating your data into a chart or graph, you should be clear on what you want to show your audience. Figure out what data you want to use and why. You might want to inform your audience about a new trend or a valuable piece of information, or show relationships between data sets. Or maybe you need to compare values, understand the composition of something, or analyze trends and behaviors over set periods of time.  

The type of data you have, and the information you want to show or understand, will help you figure out the right data visualization to use. Let's go over some scenarios and discuss which charts and graphs would be best for each.   

Show relationships 

A scatter plot, sometimes referred to as a scatter chart or scatter graph, uses dots to represent values for two different variables. The position of each dot on the horizontal and vertical axis indicates values for an individual data point. Scatter plots will sometimes have a line drawn across its center. This line is known as the trend line and highlights the direction the points are trending towards.  

Scatter plots show the relationship between data sets, and can help us understand the impact of one factor on another. For example, the scatterplot below shows the relationship between the life expectancy of people living in a country and how happy those people are. The first variable, the happiness score, is reflected on the vertical axis —also called the y-axis. The second variable, life expectancy, is on the horizontal axis —also called the x-axis. By looking at this scatterplot, we can tell that as a person’s happiness score increases, so does their life expectancy.  

 

Scatter plot best practices:  

• Start the y-axis at 0 to represent data accurately. 

Comparing values 

Bar graphs use size contrast to compare two or more values. In the example below, the time of day is compared to someone’s level of motivation throughout the whole work day. By comparing this data, we can tell that this person’s motivation is low at the beginning of the work day, and gets higher and higher by the end. Bar graphs are also a great way to clarify trends and identify patterns.  

 

Bar graph best practices: 

• Use consistent colors throughout the chart 

• Use accent colors to highlight important data points or changes over time 

• Use horizontal labels so it is easier to read  

Demonstrating composition

Now let’s check out another visualization you will probably recognize—the pie chart. Pie charts show us the composition of something. In other words, how much each part of something makes up the whole. The pie chart below shows us all the activities that make up someone’s day. Half of it is spent working, which is shown by the amount of space that the blue section takes up. From a quick glance at this pie chart, you can easily tell which activities make up a good chunk of the day and which ones take up less time. 

 

Pie chart best practices:  

• Avoid including too many categories so it is easy to compare slices 

• Make sure that the slice values add up to 100% 

• Order slices according to their size 

Analyzing trends and behaviors

Tracking trends can help us understand shifts or changes in our data. Line graphs are a great tool for visually showing change over time, but they can be paired with other factors, too. In the line graph below, we are using two lines to compare the popularity of cats and dogs over a period of time. Because the graph is using two different line colors, we can instantly tell that dogs are more popular than cats. 

We will talk more about using colors and patterns to make visualizations more accessible to audiences later, too. Even as the lines move up and down, there is a general trend upwards, and the line for dogs always stays higher than the line for cats. 

 

Line graph best practices: 

• To avoid clutter, don't show more than four categories. 

• Organize highly variable data at the top of the chart to make it easy to read 

 

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Introduction to budgeting terms

 

Cash flow

Cash flow is the inflow and outflow of cash on your project. As a project manager, this is important to understand because you need funding (cash into your project) to keep your project running. 

Cash that comes into your project allows you to maintain and compensate resources and pay invoices for materials or outside services. In some cases, a project may start out with all of the cash it will receive until the end. If this is the case, it is important to monitor your outflow to ensure that you have enough funding to complete the project.

Monitoring cash flow allows you to have a reference point for your project’s health. For example, if the cash flow coming into your project is lower than your outflow, you will need to adjust your budget. Planning and tracking the cash flow for your project is a key component of budget management.

CAPEX and OPEX

Organizations have a number of different types of expenses, from the wages they pay their employees to the cost of materials for their products. These expenses can be organized into different categories. Two of the most common are CAPEX (capital expenses) and OPEX (operating expenses).

• CAPEX (capital expenses) are an organization's major, long-term, upfront expenses, such as buildings, equipment, and vehicles. They are generally for assets that the company will own and keep. The company incurs these expenses because they believe they will create a benefit for the company in the future. 

• OPEX (operating expenses) are the short-term expenses that are required for the day-to-day tasks involved in running the company, such as wages, rent, and utilities. They are often recurring.  

You may need to account for both OPEX and CAPEX on your projects. For example, a major software acquisition as part of an IT project could be treated by your organization as a capital expense. The monthly wages paid to a contractor to help deploy the software would be an operating expense. It’s a good idea to talk to your finance or accounting department when you start working on your project budget to see how they determine the difference between OPEX and CAPEX. This will guide you in properly allocating capital and operating expenses for your projects.

Contingency reserves

Sometimes, a project hits a snag and incurs additional expenses. One way to prepare for unplanned costs is by using contingency reserves. Contingency reserves are funds added to the estimated project cost to cover identified risks. These are also referred to as buffers.

To determine the amount of your contingency reserves, you will need to go through the risk management process and identify the risks that are most likely to occur. We will go into more detail on risk management later in the course, but it is important to understand that risks to your project can have an impact on your budget.

Contingency reserves can also be used to cover areas where actual costs turn out to be higher than estimated costs. For example, you may estimate a certain amount for labor costs, but if a contracted worker on your team gets a raise, then the actual costs will be higher than you estimated. 

Management reserves

While contingency reserves are used to cover the costs of identified risks, management reserves are used to cover the costs of unidentified risks. For example, if you were managing a construction project and a meteor hit your machinery, you could use management reserves to cover the costs of the damage. 

Contingency reserves are an estimated amount, whereas management reserves are generally a percentage of the total cost of the project. To determine a project’s management reserves, you can estimate a percentage of the budget to set aside. This estimate is typically between 5–10%, but the amount is based on the complexity of the project. A project with a more complex scope may require higher management reserves. Note that the project manager will generally need approval from the project sponsor in order to use management reserves.

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Business Framework no. 3: Marketing - Product Life Cycle

An overview of the framework, every Framework contains:

• The purpose of the framework,
• A brief overview of the outline,
• Case example - to illustrate the use of a frame in the real world
• Conclusion - take-out key

 

The product life cycle is a four stage process that products or services offered by organisations go through, namely, introduction, growth, maturity and decline. It is used as a tool to identify the current life cycle stage of a product, forecast future sales and plan new strategies suitable for a particular stage.

Stage 1 Introduction: 

At this stage, the product sales are low as potential customers are unaware of the product. Hence, there is major focus towards product awareness and generating trials through huge investments in marketing campaigns and advertisements.

Stage 2 Growth: 

Based on positive outcomes from the introductory stage, the product moves to the growth stage. At this stage, product sales increase due to growing demand. As the demand grows, the product production and its availability increases.

Stage 3 Maturity: At this stage, the product production and marketing cost decline. The product sales are the highest in comparison to the previous stages, however, they are flattened in nature. Hence, there is a need to rebrand and reposition these products.

Stage 4 Decline: At this stage, the product witnesses low sales due to stiff competition from similar products offered either at a low price or with certain improvements. Hence, in order to sustain in the market, products can be differentiated or can be replaced by another one.

Sample Example:

In Spite of the emergence of digital cameras, Kodak neglected to change as per the market situation and decided to continue with the film roll business. As the popularity of digital cameras grew, people stopped using film rolls as they were no longer required. As the products did not go through any changes based on the market changes, the film roll business declined.

Let’s understand the journey of Kodak’s film role business:

Stage 1 Introduction: Kodak’s film roll business started in the 1980s. Huge investments were made to develop the film roll and to create awareness about it through advertisements. However, the product sales were low.

Stage 2 Growth: The advertisements that took place during the introductory stage, helped in building trust in customers' minds for the film roll. Further investments were made to promote film roles with an aim to increase its sales.

Stage 3 Maturity: The emergence of the digital cameras led to a decrease in use of film roles, thereby leading to decrease in its sales. An incorrect strategy was chosen to not make any changes to the core product. However, in this scenario, other product avenues could be looked at to make decisions to sell which product to the customers.

Stage 4 Decline: Customers moved to digital cameras and stopped using film roles. No initiatives took place to differentiate or replace the film roles, which led to the end of the film role business. However, in this scenario, had other product avenues been analysed, decisions on selling the right product to the customer to satisfy their needs would have been made. This could have also led to a case of selling mobile phones with cameras in place of film roles.

Conclusion

Based on the market scenario, companies need to change their marketing strategies and their product to stay relevant in the market.

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